Gansu

Gansu is a strip of territory lying southeast northwest in northwestern China. It is 454,000 square kilometers in size, with a population of 22,849 million. Lanzhou is the capital city.

Gansu is one of the origin places of the ancient Chinese civilization. It is said to be birthplace of Fu Xi, an ancestor of the Chinese nation who is said to have created Chinese characters and calendric system. The Silk Road zigzags across the province for 1,600 kilometers. Along the way are historic sites, cultural relics, beautiful landscape and ethic folklore. Main spots of the Silk Road culture include grottoes at Maijishan, Dunhuang, Binglingsi and Tiantishan, Jiayu Pass of the Great Wall and Labrang Monastery. Gansu's landscape is composed of alpine grassland, the Gobi deserts, the Loess Plateau, wind corroded terrains, glaciers and snowcapped mountains. The province is inhabited by over 10 ethic groups, such as the Han, Tibetan, Hui, Yugur, Bonan and Dongxiang.

Gansu sits on the golden section of the Silk Road, which branches off into three routes. Tourists can choose for a combined itinerary of their own. ( Tourist Map of Gansu)